“This is my wedding gift to you,” Cain said with a smile. “At least that’s what my wife tells me is going to happen with you two. The way you look at her predicts the future.” She stood up and offered Remi her hand. “Let’s get this over with.”
Nick was sitting at the table with a gun in his waistband. Even if Bob had tried to run there was no way he’d ever find his way out, since he’d made the trip wrapped in a rug. Cain walked in and sat to his right.
“If you know what’s good for you, tell this idiot to take me back,” Bob said.
“What’s good for me?” Cain tilted her head to the side, trying to decipher what exactly that meant. “I give up. What do you plan to do to me if I don’t?”
“I’m not an idiot.”
Cain knocked on the table with her knuckles and laughed. “That’s negotiable.” She waved Nick outside.
“I know who you are, and the minute I get back I’m sure the authorities would love to hear what you did to me.”
“I’m here doing a favor for a friend, nothing more than that, but I thought we’d have a talk first.”
“This is about Dallas and her trying to get rid of me. I own that bitch, and if you think this intimidation act is going to change my mind about that, it’s not. Like I told that dyke that got herself killed, I’ve faced worse and lived to tell the tale.”
“I’m no stranger to intimidation, Mr. Bennett, but that’s not why you’re here. Dallas happens to be a friend of mine, and you’ve taken some things that don’t belong to you. I think it’s only fair that you give them back. It’s that simple.”
“What things?”
“Just minor things like her house, her money, and some papers, and if you’re cooperative I won’t ask you how you got those away from her.”
“Fuck off.”
“I had my attorney draw up some papers that give Dallas legal right to the list I mentioned, and I’d like you to sign them.”
“Are you deaf? I said to fuck off.”
“Mr. Bennett, let me explain something to you in terms that even you can understand. You’re going to sign. That point’s non-negotiable. You can choose to do it now and save yourself a lot of pain, or you can play the macho role and hold out, which brings its own set of consequences. Those are the only two options. Now I’m going to ask you one more time, do you want to sign or do you choose to wait?”
“I want you to listen to me, fucker. I’m not going to sign those papers now, an hour from now, or a week from now. Dallas may have had some fantasy of your dead friend up on a big fucking white horse saving her from me, but that ain’t going to happen now, is it? If you want an answer then here it is. Kiss my ass. What are you going to do now, beat me to death?” Bob asked, laughing.
“No, Dickey, she won’t beat you, but I will.” Remi’s voice cut through the room, making Bob twist his head around.
“But you’re dead. I saw it on television, you’re dead.” Bob paled considerably.
“You’re not one of those people who believes everything you see on television, are you?” Remi sat across from him and took a cigar out of her shirt pocket. She sat that and her clippers on the table. “Do you smoke?” she asked Bob, who shook his head. “Too bad, there’s nothing like a good cigar.”
“Let me go and I’ll check that out.”
“You wanted to meet with me in the worst way to negotiate Dallas’s new contract. Well, here I am, and there’s no chance anyone’s going to disturb us. Only anything having to do with Dallas’s future is off the table. We’re here for her past dealings.”
“You don’t scare me, so cut the theatrics.”
Cain put her bag on the table. “Funny, she scares the shit out of me at times. You were right, he isn’t very smart.”
“More like an asshole who’s made a living as a leech,” Remi said to Cain, then turned to Bob. “Before we begin let me ask you something. Are you right- or left- handed?”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Bob was getting louder and his speech was getting faster.
“Because I can start with your dominant hand or not. The choice is yours.”
“Right-handed.”
“See, that wasn’t too hard, was it? What we’re going to play tonight is like a version of twenty questions my father taught me. It’s a little messy but it gets results, and that’s what we’re here for. I’m going to ask you questions, and if you’re lying or you get it wrong then,” she paused and clipped off the tip of the cigar in her hand with the golden clippers for emphasis, “I’m going to start cutting your fingers off at each joint until you tell the truth or get it right. Any questions before we begin?”
“You’re kidding me, right? I’m not falling for that bluff,” Bob told her with a nervous laugh.
“Remi never bluffs,” Cain said. “It’s what makes her such a good gambler.”
“Ready to play?” Remi asked without any humor. “Don’t worry. I’m going to save your right hand for last so you can sign the papers Cain mentioned. Last chance, Bob. I’m not fucking around. We can skip all this if you sign.”
“You don’t listen very well, do you? This is what I’m going to do. As soon as I leave here, I’m going to drive to the closest rag and give them an exclusive on the past life of one Dallas Montgomery, aka Katie Moores. I’m sure her mug shot from when she got caught shoplifting will make a wonderful cover, and the skin flick she was in won’t make ET, but the copies I own will be worth a fortune.” Before he could continue, Cain placed the mug shot and a copy of the video on the table in front of Remi.
“Is this what you’re talking about?”
“Those are mine. Give them back,” he yelled, sounding like a small child whose favorite toy had been taken away. He moved to grab the stuff, but Cain was quicker. She stood and yanked him back by the hair, but it was the knife biting into his neck that stopped him cold. “If you try that again I’m going to gut you like a fish. Do you understand me?” Cain asked. He nodded his head, apparently too afraid to speak.
“Bob, I’m going to repay you every unkindness you ever heaped on Dallas, and so you know, I’m going to enjoy every moment of it. Are there any other documents I need to collect from you?” Remi asked.
“Yes, bitch, and I’m never going to tell you where they are.” He watched her pick up the clippers and slip her fingers into the appropriate holes. “You don’t have the guts to carry this out.”
“What makes us better than the animals, Dickey?”
“Our ability to forgive and forget.”
“Funny, who knew you had a sense of humor, but sadly that’s a wrong answer. I did warn you what would happen if you answered untruthfully or wrong, didn’t I? The right answer would be opposable thumbs, Dickey.” With that said, she squeezed the blade shut. Just as quickly the agonizing scream that pierced the silence of the ancient swamp scared the sleeping white egrets off the branches overhead with loud squawks.
“Wait,” Bob said, his voice raspy as Remi moved the clippers to his index finger. He seemed to be the only one horrified that his left thumb was sitting on the table. “Just wait.”
“It’s simple, like I said. Give me the information I want and this ends,” Remi said, squeezing the clippers enough to touch the first segment of his finger.
“Why don’t you leave me and Dallas alone? We were fine until you came along.” He screamed just as loud when the tip of his finger landed on the table. “You won’t get away with this.”
Cain grabbed his hand as he tried to pull it back and slammed it back in front of Remi. “Do you think that’s what Dallas would say if she were here?” Cain asked. “That she was fine working to hand over the lion’s share to you? Because from what my people found in your house, that’s exactly what’s happened. She’s worked her ass off and owns nothing in her name, but that can’t be said of you, can it?”
“She wanted it that way. Dallas wanted me to look out for her and her money.” The next segment of his finger came off as he finished, leaving only the nub up from the knuckle.